Federer prevailed in just over three hours under the Rod Laver Arena roof to become the third man after Roy Emerson and Novak Djokovic to claim six Australian Open titles.

The Swiss now has four more grand slam titles than his great rival Rafael Nadal.

Cilic, who knocked out an ailing Nadal in the quarter-finals, showed plenty of courage in his first final appearance at the event as he came from a break down in the fourth set to take the match into a deciding set.

But despite his big hitting, he could not stop Federer from running away with the title.

“I’m so happy, it’s unbelievable,” Federer said with a quivering voice.

“I’m happy it’s over, but winning is just an absolute dream come true. The fairytale continues for me. After the great year I had last year, it’s incredible.”